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- West African hunter-gatherers, West African foragers, or West African pygmies dwelled in western Central Africa earlier than 32,000 BP and dwelled in West Africa between 16,000 BP and 12,000 BP until as late as 1000 BP or some period of time after 1500 CE. West African hunter-gatherers are archaeologically associated with the West African Microlithic Technocomplex. Despite its significance in the prehistory of West Africa, the peopling of various parts of Western Africa from the Sub-Saharan regions of coastal West Africa and the forests of western Central Africa often goes overlooked. Prior to West African hunter-gatherers, there may have been various peoples (e.g., Iwo Eleru people, possibly Aterians) who continuously occupied West Africa amid the Middle Stone Age. Macrolith-using late Middle Stone Age peoples (e.g., the possibly archaic human admixed or late-persisting early modern human Iwo Eleru fossils of the late Middle Stone Age), who dwelled in Central Africa, western Central Africa, and West Africa, were displaced by microlith-using Late Stone Age Africans (e.g., non-archaic human admixed Late Stone Age Shum Laka fossils dated between 7000 BP and 3000 BP) as they migrated from Central Africa, to western Central Africa, into West Africa. Earlier than 32,000 BP, or by 30,000 BP, Late Stone Age West African hunter-gatherers were dwelling in the forests of western Central Africa (e.g., earlier than 32,000 BP at de Maret in Shum Laka, 12,000 BP at Mbi Crater). Between 16,000 BP and 12,000 BP, Late Stone Age West Africans began dwelling in the eastern and central forested regions (e.g., Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria; between 18,000 BP and 13,000 BP at Temet West and Asokrochona in the southern region of Ghana, 13,050 ± 230 BP at Bingerville in the southern region of Ivory Coast, 11,200 ± 200 BP at Iwo Eleru in Nigeria) of West Africa. West African hunter-gatherers resided at the Nigerian sites of Iwo Eleru and Rop, at the Ivorian site of Bingerville, at the Cameroonian site of Shum Laka, at the Malian site of Ounjougou, and at the Senegalese sites of Fatandi and Toumboura. Prior to the Holocene era, interaction between West Africans migrating from the Sahara and West African hunter-gatherers of the savanna and forest regions were limited, as evidenced by West African hunter-gatherer microlithic cultural continuity. West African hunter-gatherers likely were the sole occupants of the savanna and forest regions of West Africa. Unlike Central African hunter-gatherers, who dwell in more secluded areas in the forests of Central Africa, West African hunter-gatherers likely dwelt in more open areas of West Africa. Migration of Saharan peoples south of the Sahelian region resulted in seasonal interaction and gradual absorption of West African hunter-gatherers, who primarily dwelt in the savannas and forests of West Africa. After having persisted as late as 1000 BP, or some period of time after 1500 CE, remaining West African hunter-gatherers, many of whom dwelt in the forest-savanna region, were ultimately acculturated and admixed into larger groups of West African agriculturalists, akin to the migratory Bantu-speaking agriculturalists and their encounters with Central African hunter-gatherers. (en)
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